Raymond Lee Stewart
|death place = Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Illinois |pathology = Spree Killer Robber |mo = Shooting |victims = 6 killed |time = January 27, 1981 - February 2, 1981 |charges = Felony murder |sentence = Death |capture = February 21, 1981 |status = Deceased |birth date = 1952 }} Raymond Lee Stewart was an American spree killer who murdered six people during the course of a week-long killing spree in Rockford, Illinois, and Benoit, Wisconsin. He was eventually executed for his crimes. Background Not much is known about Stewart's past. Born in 1952, he claimed to have had an abusive childhood. He lived in Rockford, Illinois, for a while, then relocated to North Carolina. In 1981, he returned to Rockford for the upcoming birth of his out-of-wedlock child. He had a criminal record for armed robberies of gas stations. Killing Spree and Arrest On the afternoon of January 27, 1981, Willie Fredd, a fifty-four-year-old African-American, owner of Fredd's Grocery Store (just two blocks from the Rockford motel where Stewart was staying), was shot to death along with his nephew, twenty-year-old Albert Pearson. Nothing valuable was taken from the store (with the exception of some cigarettes which were later found in Stewart's motel room). The next morning, Rockford gas station attendant Kevin Kaiser was found dead in the station's supply storage room. He had been shot four times, then again shot point-blank in the face (this last shot was fired after he was already dead). Again, nothing valuable was taken from the scene, while a witness identified a black male in his late twenties as a suspect. On January 29, another gas station attendant, Kenny Foust, was shot. He firstly survived, then died of his wounds at Rockford Memorial Hospital. This time, about $150 were taken from the station. Ballistics tests also indicated that the gun with which Foust was murdered was the same that killed Fredd and his nephew, resulting in the very first link between all these incidents. Rockford police soon formed a major case task force. On February 2, Richard Boeck and Donald Rains, respectively the manager and a customer of a Benoit, Wisconsin, Radio Shack store, were found dead near the rear of the store. Witnesses identified a black male similar to the one spotted the day of the Kaiser shooting. As this, along with the similar circumstances of the crimes, implied the offender had crossed state lines, the FBI was consequently involved. John Douglas was called in to draft a suspect profile, which matched that of a man to whom the authorities were led thanks to witness descriptions: Raymond Lee Stewart. Stewart had, in the meanwhile, fled to his cousin's house in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was eventually arrested on February 21. Trial and Execution Stewart was charged with four counts of murder in Illinois and two in Wisconsin. During the trials, he showed resentment and contempt for both his victims and the system. He was found guilty of felony murder and sentenced to death. He later claimed that the murders were spurred by racial hatred, and demanded leniency because of his abusive childhood. While in jail, he attempted an escape but was recaptured two hours later. On September 18, 1996, he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center, Illinois. Modus Operandi Stewart shot his victims (usually at point-blank range) with two 38. caliber revolvers: an RG 31 and a Smith & Wesson Model 60 Chief's Special. He usually attempted to hide the corpses of his victims in the majority of the incidents. Profile John Douglas profiled the unsub as being a paranoid individual, because of the lack of a "logical motive" (monetary, personal, sexual, etc) to the crimes, which therefore made sense according to a strictly internal, non-objective logic. The offender would have been delusional, but still functional enough to drive and hold a menial job. He would have interacted with people around him, but they would have known he was "odd". Since Paranoid, paranoid schizophrenics, as well as assassin personalities, surface in their mid-twenties, the offender would have much probably been in his mid-to-late twenties. Killers usually begin where they feel the highest comfort level, therefore, as his first two victims were black, and the second and third shootings occurred in the early morning hours, the offender would have been African-American (a fact which also witness descriptions confirmed) who would have felt more comfortable in the darkness. The latter peculiarity would have been reflected also in his choice of dark-colored clothing and a dark-colored car. Also, he would have resided near the Fredd Grocery Store. He would probably have felt the need for a police-like dog for protection, like a German Shepherd or Dobermann pinscher (Stewart indeed had two pinschers). He would also have had a police radio scanner. He would have had a criminal record, consisting of assaultive behavior, reacting against authority figures, or institutionalization. Killing every person in each of the holdups, along with the overkill, suggested the offender would have been someone who "overcompensated" for everything. Known Victims *Unknown dates and locations: several victimless armed robberies of gas stations *1981: **January 27, Rockford, Illinois: ***Willie Fredd, 44 ***Albert Pearson, 20 **January 28, Rockford, Illinois: Kevin Kaiser, 18 **January 29, Rockford, Illinois: Kenny Foust, 35 **February 2, Benoit, Wisconsin: ***Richard Boeck, 21 ***Donald Rains, 26 On Criminal Minds *Season Six **"The Thirteenth Step" - While Stewart has yet to be directly referenced in the show, he appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsubs, Raymond Donovan and Sydney Manning - All three were spree killers and robbers who were active in at least two states and approximately the same duration, targeted at least one store and at least one gas station, both Stewart and Manning used at least one revolver, and both Donovan and Stewart share the same first name and have surnames which are commonly used as first names. Also the way Stewart claimed he had an abusive childhood is somewhat similar to how Donovan was molested by his father. Sources *''Journey Into Darkness'', John Douglas and Mark Olshaker (1997), ISBN: 9781439107812 *Murderpedia's article on Stewart Category:Real People Category:Real Life Sociopaths Category:Real World Criminals Category:Real Life Killers Category:Real Rampage Killers Category:Real Spree Killers Category:Real Life Robbers Category:Executed Real World Criminals Category:Deceased Real World Criminals Category:Unreferenced Criminals